So, multiple friends have now "tagged" me in their 25 things about them posts. It's kind of like the GQ "Things I've Learned" article, which is one of my favorite things to read on a regular basis. I guess it's my turn now.
1. I spent all day contemplating what to write here. Do I go random things about me or things I've learned. A mixture of both, perhaps?
2. I've forgotten the absolute best things that I thought of. They were good, too.
3. The next 12 months of my life will probably be the biggest year I'll ever have. It could include my first house and my first child. Hopefully in that order.
4. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think how lucky I am to have Diana. Not a single day.
5. I know nobody is perfect. She's about as close as I think anyone could get.
6. I've actually loved three women in my life (outside of family, obviously) and hope it says something about me that I am still friends with the first two - even if we may lose touch for years at a time.
7. I feel pretty secure that the third one is the last one. I hope I'm her last as well.
8. In about a four-month span before my wedding, I turned $1.52 into over $2000.00 playing online poker.
9. I wouldn't believe that last one either if you said it to me. However, Diana was witness to it all so feel free to ask her about it.
10. I've worked 80 hours a week and I've worked 15 hours a week. I don't need to tell you which one is more enjoyable.
11. Hard work is very overrated. Smart work is so much better.
12. People are much nicer and kinder in Arizona. People work harder and smarter in NY, though.
13. Number 12 makes being in a position of limited authority very difficult for me. I can't accept poor work ethic and no effort. This makes me the asshole - which sometimes I am, anyway.
14. I really detest having to spend a half-hour 2-to-3 times a week shaving my head. After a house, hellooooo laser hair removal. If I think it will work.
15. I promised myself after I lost about 30 lbs. in 2003 or so that I would never let myself get that big again. Happiness can make you break promises, apparently.
16. I really enjoy video games. Always have, and probably always will.
17. I was lucky to have had older friends while I was in my 20's that I learned quite a bit from.
18. I really want to get back into softball and acting. The first is more likely than the second.
19. I miss the cheers from crowds. Even more, I miss doing a song well.
20. This is supposed to be 25 things about me you don't know. It's not reading like that as I go back through what I wrote. There - now you know something you didn't before.
21. I just won a pot-limit Omaha tournament online in the last 20 minutes. It should never be that fast to go through ten people.
22. I don't have any tattoos. I haven't found anything that I want to have burned into me that I'll feel like explaining to my grandkids. I'm pretty confident that will change when I have children.
23. I have had the following jobs - some for as little as 4 hours: retail in a mall, sportswriter, deli clerk, packer at Yellow Freight, server (many times), host at a Ground Round, asst mgr at Big Dogs, bartender, tennis coach/teaching pro, bread delivery guy, musician, poker player, DJ, business owner, poker dealer, poker floor manager, business co-owner/VP, behavior coach, transportation director, chauffeur, PE teacher, auto sales, internet sales rep, furniture delivery, flooring installation, bookie. Don't ever say that life experience doesn't count. Especially to someone with a doctorate in it.
24. Right now is one of those times, as I was about to close the laptop and head to bed, that I thought about how much I love Diana and how lucky I am to have her. Sorry if you've vomited at this point.
25. It's been three days since I started this and had much grander plans. I'm giving up and posting right about now before I start my night work.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Christmas in AZ and big Yankee news on the road!
Driving along one of the busiest retail and restaurant corridors (Bell Rd.) I've ever known in my life, some observations were made.
With so many retail stores going out of business, isn't this really just a major financial correction? There's no way five or six major chain electronic stores should survive within a one-mile radius. People talk about the destruction of "Main St." and try to blame Wall St. It's our own fault for allowing Wall St. to take over "Main St.". Linens and Things? I could go buy 75% of their products for 2/3 the price before they started their going out of business sales. All you had to do was search some. That is a correction that needed to be made. They should be out of business. My only regret is that we can't put two or three REAL mom-and-pop stores in it's place and let them play "Survivor" the retail version. Sure, the prices may be a bit more because they aren't able to order millions of items at a pop for the major wholesale discount, however the service and the long-term relationship between consumer and store would be better. Considerably. The American economy will be fine eventually (well, consumer spending, anyway). We're just in a correction phase. I'm getting bored with my tangent so on to baseball...
Marky Mark and the Yankee Bunch...
When I stopped for a bite to eat today, I went to ESPN MVP on my phone and the headline that greeted me was a wonderful Christmas present... the Yankees reportedly have agreed to sign Mark Teixeira to an eight-year, $180 million contract. This is the one deal I was hoping for all off-season. More than CC, more than AJ, more than DL, AP or any other mish-mosh of initials you can throw up on the mound. The Yankees absolutely needed to improve their starting pitching, however there was not one single pitcher out there who I thought could improve the Yankees more than Teixeira. Not only will he bring his .3xx BA, 30-something HRs, .4xx OPB and 120-or-so RBI to the middle of the Yankee lineup, he will improve the hitters around him and provide protection for Alex Rodriguez that he has not had since Matsui was consistently healthy. Just as importantly, his defense at first will be the best since Nick Johnson left for the infirmary, and Tino before him. This will help your pitching staff and your infielders' defense. As a wise baseball man pointed out today over the phone, it will increase the confidence of the other infielders and that can only help their all-around game.
I criticized the CC signing when it happened, saying if it prevented the Yankees from getting Teixeira, than it wasn't worth it. I still think CC could fall apart and follow the same career path as Fernando Valenzuela, Sid Fernandez and other plus-sized pitchers, not to mention the 524 (!) total innings that have been logged on his arm the last two seasons. However, now that they have Teixeira, I'm at peace with the signing and hope he proves me wrong and can be the true ace the Yankees have been missing for longer than people realize.
With that in mind and with everyone calling the radio stations saying, "Oh, hey guys this is Joe from Schmoeville on the car phone. This is just another case of the Yankees trying to buy another championship. They are everything that's wrong with baseball...... yada yada yada..." I bring to you the five predictions every Yankee fan (myself included) is dreading to see come to fruition this year.
1. Derek Jeter becomes David Eckstein offensively and continues his gradual decline defensively.
Jeter's home run total has dropped five consecutive years. His slugging percentage has dropped eighty points in the past three years. The following statistics have all dropped three consecutive years: BA, OBP, BB, hits, total bases and SB. This usually does not bode well. Defensively, the worst kept secret in baseball has been Jeter's decreasing range and his slowly eroding arm. This season, Jeter will turn 35 and the wheels will really start to come off of his game.
2. Sabathia will begin the season with this stat line...
1-4, 7.76 ERA, 26.2 IP, 34 H, 23 ER, 14 BB
... just like he did in 2007. The only difference is this time - in NY - he won't be able to handle the pressure, will press a bit too much and will implode and be on the DL by June 1.
3. A-Rod will get an STD from Madonna and it will affect his production both on the field and off (I kid, I kid).
4. Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera and Nick Swisher (throw in Nady if you're REALLY paranoid) will all play to the worst of their abilities.
Cano is a very slow starter, inconsistent and can play with his head up his rear for weeks at a time. Melky seems to look more and more like a below-average major leaguer (.642 OPS in 2008) and Swisher has a career BA of .244. If they all have below-average seasons, there may not be enough to make up for the holes they would create in the offense.
5. Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada and Chien-Ming Wang are unable to return to pre-injury form.
Although you will be hard-pressed to find people who say Wang will not return to form (it was a toe injury after all), this is a worst-case scenario type of situation. In the cases of Matsui and Posada, it is a very real possibility that they may not be on the field consistently. Matsui has missed 200 games over the past three seasons and although he has produced when he's played, there's been a noticeable loss of speed and power during the time he's been out there. Posada had a Ray Lewis-worthy resurgence in 2007 but was on pace for his lowest OPS since 1999 when he was injured last year. He also will begin the 2009 season with 37 years on this earth. There aren't many catchers who can be productive at that age.
So these are the worst-case predictions. I hope none of them come true...
With so many retail stores going out of business, isn't this really just a major financial correction? There's no way five or six major chain electronic stores should survive within a one-mile radius. People talk about the destruction of "Main St." and try to blame Wall St. It's our own fault for allowing Wall St. to take over "Main St.". Linens and Things? I could go buy 75% of their products for 2/3 the price before they started their going out of business sales. All you had to do was search some. That is a correction that needed to be made. They should be out of business. My only regret is that we can't put two or three REAL mom-and-pop stores in it's place and let them play "Survivor" the retail version. Sure, the prices may be a bit more because they aren't able to order millions of items at a pop for the major wholesale discount, however the service and the long-term relationship between consumer and store would be better. Considerably. The American economy will be fine eventually (well, consumer spending, anyway). We're just in a correction phase. I'm getting bored with my tangent so on to baseball...
Marky Mark and the Yankee Bunch...
When I stopped for a bite to eat today, I went to ESPN MVP on my phone and the headline that greeted me was a wonderful Christmas present... the Yankees reportedly have agreed to sign Mark Teixeira to an eight-year, $180 million contract. This is the one deal I was hoping for all off-season. More than CC, more than AJ, more than DL, AP or any other mish-mosh of initials you can throw up on the mound. The Yankees absolutely needed to improve their starting pitching, however there was not one single pitcher out there who I thought could improve the Yankees more than Teixeira. Not only will he bring his .3xx BA, 30-something HRs, .4xx OPB and 120-or-so RBI to the middle of the Yankee lineup, he will improve the hitters around him and provide protection for Alex Rodriguez that he has not had since Matsui was consistently healthy. Just as importantly, his defense at first will be the best since Nick Johnson left for the infirmary, and Tino before him. This will help your pitching staff and your infielders' defense. As a wise baseball man pointed out today over the phone, it will increase the confidence of the other infielders and that can only help their all-around game.
I criticized the CC signing when it happened, saying if it prevented the Yankees from getting Teixeira, than it wasn't worth it. I still think CC could fall apart and follow the same career path as Fernando Valenzuela, Sid Fernandez and other plus-sized pitchers, not to mention the 524 (!) total innings that have been logged on his arm the last two seasons. However, now that they have Teixeira, I'm at peace with the signing and hope he proves me wrong and can be the true ace the Yankees have been missing for longer than people realize.
With that in mind and with everyone calling the radio stations saying, "Oh, hey guys this is Joe from Schmoeville on the car phone. This is just another case of the Yankees trying to buy another championship. They are everything that's wrong with baseball...... yada yada yada..." I bring to you the five predictions every Yankee fan (myself included) is dreading to see come to fruition this year.
1. Derek Jeter becomes David Eckstein offensively and continues his gradual decline defensively.
Jeter's home run total has dropped five consecutive years. His slugging percentage has dropped eighty points in the past three years. The following statistics have all dropped three consecutive years: BA, OBP, BB, hits, total bases and SB. This usually does not bode well. Defensively, the worst kept secret in baseball has been Jeter's decreasing range and his slowly eroding arm. This season, Jeter will turn 35 and the wheels will really start to come off of his game.
2. Sabathia will begin the season with this stat line...
1-4, 7.76 ERA, 26.2 IP, 34 H, 23 ER, 14 BB
... just like he did in 2007. The only difference is this time - in NY - he won't be able to handle the pressure, will press a bit too much and will implode and be on the DL by June 1.
3. A-Rod will get an STD from Madonna and it will affect his production both on the field and off (I kid, I kid).
4. Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera and Nick Swisher (throw in Nady if you're REALLY paranoid) will all play to the worst of their abilities.
Cano is a very slow starter, inconsistent and can play with his head up his rear for weeks at a time. Melky seems to look more and more like a below-average major leaguer (.642 OPS in 2008) and Swisher has a career BA of .244. If they all have below-average seasons, there may not be enough to make up for the holes they would create in the offense.
5. Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada and Chien-Ming Wang are unable to return to pre-injury form.
Although you will be hard-pressed to find people who say Wang will not return to form (it was a toe injury after all), this is a worst-case scenario type of situation. In the cases of Matsui and Posada, it is a very real possibility that they may not be on the field consistently. Matsui has missed 200 games over the past three seasons and although he has produced when he's played, there's been a noticeable loss of speed and power during the time he's been out there. Posada had a Ray Lewis-worthy resurgence in 2007 but was on pace for his lowest OPS since 1999 when he was injured last year. He also will begin the 2009 season with 37 years on this earth. There aren't many catchers who can be productive at that age.
So these are the worst-case predictions. I hope none of them come true...
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Therapy...
Before I begin the actual blog part of this post, I want to comment that I always say I'm going to start keeping up with this blog then a year or two later I make my way back with an update. I read all my old posts, feel pretty content with my writing and my opinions and say, "Man, I could be one of "those" bloggers that actually has readers. Then I disappear from blogging for....ever. I really would like that to change - however, I'm done promising that I'll write more, when I probably won't.
Tonight is more of a therapeutic blog and not quite the sports rant that I've done on here.
Rudy died.
(Who?!?!?)
Rudy. Rudy was the runt piglet of a litter born yesterday at The ACES ranch. The ACES is a private K-12 school for students with special needs that has a ranch for animal therapy. One of the pigs had a litter and we were there to witness. We've raised two other pigs by hand and although we were hesitant, we knew the runt wouldn't have made it through the night on his own. We took him home and fed him, wrapped him in a blanket, took him to bed and Diana slept (kinda) with this baby pig the size of a hamster by her neck because he liked the warmth and her pulse. When she left this morning I took over and got to bond. Basically, we fed him every half-hour and he was almost always in our arms throughout the day.
He seemed to be doing ok overall, though we both were "cautiously optimistic" until tonight when I went to work at my night job. He faded pretty quickly and had a pretty traumatic end. Diana updated me then called while I was in the box (dealing poker) to say she thought he was dying. She texted me five minutes later to say he had passed. She was really upset (duh) and I came home to dispose of the body properly and tend to her. I bawled pretty good for quite some time and am amazed at how quickly I let myself care for the little guy.
There are some other issues which I would like to mention but now is not the time. I also need to see who will be reading this blog before I give people who have extreme passive-aggressive tendencies ammo to frustrate me with.
Anyway, I think I'm going to go have a drink - ok, another drink - and try to drown the sorrows a bit. I hope I'm back on here soon... in the meantime, sorry for the ultra-selfish post. If anyone else reads this, I hope you know it did me some good even if it wasn't very entertaining for you.
Tonight is more of a therapeutic blog and not quite the sports rant that I've done on here.
Rudy died.
(Who?!?!?)
Rudy. Rudy was the runt piglet of a litter born yesterday at The ACES ranch. The ACES is a private K-12 school for students with special needs that has a ranch for animal therapy. One of the pigs had a litter and we were there to witness. We've raised two other pigs by hand and although we were hesitant, we knew the runt wouldn't have made it through the night on his own. We took him home and fed him, wrapped him in a blanket, took him to bed and Diana slept (kinda) with this baby pig the size of a hamster by her neck because he liked the warmth and her pulse. When she left this morning I took over and got to bond. Basically, we fed him every half-hour and he was almost always in our arms throughout the day.
He seemed to be doing ok overall, though we both were "cautiously optimistic" until tonight when I went to work at my night job. He faded pretty quickly and had a pretty traumatic end. Diana updated me then called while I was in the box (dealing poker) to say she thought he was dying. She texted me five minutes later to say he had passed. She was really upset (duh) and I came home to dispose of the body properly and tend to her. I bawled pretty good for quite some time and am amazed at how quickly I let myself care for the little guy.
There are some other issues which I would like to mention but now is not the time. I also need to see who will be reading this blog before I give people who have extreme passive-aggressive tendencies ammo to frustrate me with.
Anyway, I think I'm going to go have a drink - ok, another drink - and try to drown the sorrows a bit. I hope I'm back on here soon... in the meantime, sorry for the ultra-selfish post. If anyone else reads this, I hope you know it did me some good even if it wasn't very entertaining for you.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
must be that time; ex Sox=class act?!
Judging by my last post, it's obvious I find things to discuss come late-February. What is sad, however, is that means the other 11 1/2 months... I got nothing. I know that's not the case, so I'll try to get going on at least one a week.
Keith Foulke announced his retirement Friday before lacing them up for the Cleveland Indians. The former Red Sox was signed during the winter to compete for the closing job with another free-agent acquisition, Joe Borowski.
That he retired isn't what's surprising. Since getting the assist on the final out of the 2004 World Series, Foulke had been plagued by injuries, including missing two months in the '06 season with tendinitis in his elbow. Foulke retired about a week before he would be entitled to $5 million from the Indians. Had he reported to camp, then retired the next day, the Indians would have been obligated to pay him the entire salary. A class act and hopefully a precedent-setting move by Keith Foulke. Good luck in retirement.
Keith Foulke announced his retirement Friday before lacing them up for the Cleveland Indians. The former Red Sox was signed during the winter to compete for the closing job with another free-agent acquisition, Joe Borowski.
That he retired isn't what's surprising. Since getting the assist on the final out of the 2004 World Series, Foulke had been plagued by injuries, including missing two months in the '06 season with tendinitis in his elbow. Foulke retired about a week before he would be entitled to $5 million from the Indians. Had he reported to camp, then retired the next day, the Indians would have been obligated to pay him the entire salary. A class act and hopefully a precedent-setting move by Keith Foulke. Good luck in retirement.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
After all that...
I came in 2nd in the tournament I was talking about and won a huge pot in the cash game to get me even (+$6) there. Total after two and a half hours... up $23. Better than being down! Lol. Now I'm going to try and get some more sleep. I have a doubleheader tonight and then I'm going to Exit 7, where I'll be playing on Wednesday.
it's 4AM, I must be... something.
I made the mistake of going to bed way too early last night (9 pm) and woke up at about 1:30AM. I was unable to fall back asleep so at about 3ish I gave up and came in to play poker for a bit. It's not going well right now at all. Playing a little too loose in limit. I'm right at table average in my sit-n-go tourney. In the cash game I'm down $27. Yikes! I finished way up yesterday, winning my only tourney and winning both cash sessions. I was hoping it would be the start of a nice roll - but it is (verrrry) early today to say it's not. I played one tourney and lost so I need to place in this one to not start behind the eight ball more than I already am.
I didn't notice a lot to blog about in the sports world yesterday. No big news from the combine or spring training. The Knicks lost again yesterday by a large margin. It's sad what's happened to that team. Being a Laker fan I've never loved the Knicks but they're one of those teams - Lakers and Celtics the other ones - that should never be an embarrassment. Unfortunately, that's what they've become. A very poor joke. They deserved to be booed - not LeBron James. I give Isaiah Thomas another season before I declare him the absolute worst GM of all time. He didn't have much to work with when he started - but he's managed to turn the team into a train wreck of epic proportions. The only reason I'm giving him another season is because he was successful in the past and I hope he has a long-term grand-scheme in mind. Kevin Garnett in the offseason, maybe? If he doesn't pull a major coup in the next 10 months, someone needs to pull him and start over with Channing Frye, Eddy Curry and one of the 30 "1-guards that play like 2-guards but aren't tall enough". Good luck to them. Any time I get frustrated by the Lakers, I look on the East Coast and realize things could be much, much worse.
We're down to four in my tournament and yours truly is the chip leader so I'm going to wrap up and go pay attention. Also down $30.50 in the cash game so I need to tend to business there as well.
I didn't notice a lot to blog about in the sports world yesterday. No big news from the combine or spring training. The Knicks lost again yesterday by a large margin. It's sad what's happened to that team. Being a Laker fan I've never loved the Knicks but they're one of those teams - Lakers and Celtics the other ones - that should never be an embarrassment. Unfortunately, that's what they've become. A very poor joke. They deserved to be booed - not LeBron James. I give Isaiah Thomas another season before I declare him the absolute worst GM of all time. He didn't have much to work with when he started - but he's managed to turn the team into a train wreck of epic proportions. The only reason I'm giving him another season is because he was successful in the past and I hope he has a long-term grand-scheme in mind. Kevin Garnett in the offseason, maybe? If he doesn't pull a major coup in the next 10 months, someone needs to pull him and start over with Channing Frye, Eddy Curry and one of the 30 "1-guards that play like 2-guards but aren't tall enough". Good luck to them. Any time I get frustrated by the Lakers, I look on the East Coast and realize things could be much, much worse.
We're down to four in my tournament and yours truly is the chip leader so I'm going to wrap up and go pay attention. Also down $30.50 in the cash game so I need to tend to business there as well.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
I got lost!
I couldn't remember what I had named my blog, so I couldn't update until just now after doing some sifting. I'm probably the only one to read this so I guess it doesn't matter either way.
You know, for as vast as the internet is, I find myself getting bored very quickly and easily. I'm always online playing poker, but I need to keep myself occupied while I play - otherwise, I play too loosely out of boredom. Right now I'm playing 1-2 limit. Things are going okay. No big pots yet so I'm down about $6 after an hour or so. I'm going to try and grind out (slowly make money) for the majority of the day and make some progress. I just lost $10 with AK after flopping the A. I hope it won't be that kind of a day.
In baseball news - spring training is here! Literally... here. I'm about 10 minutes away from the Seattle and San Diego spring training HQ. I have to make sure I get down there and watch a workout during the week. I'm also about 25 minutes from a few other teams. I may be going to the D-backs/Yankees exhibition the final two games of spring training. That would be exciting. I'd definitely be wearing my Yankee "road greys".
Something really got under my skin last night and drove me to find my blog this morning. I don't remember exactly, but the reason I got this blog was so I could vent about certain issues and satisfy the craving I still obviously have for writing. Cleveland fans booed LeBron James in the second half of last night's game. Are you kidding me? I don't care if they paid $2,000 for tickets. Cleveland fans booing James is akin to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. HE'S THE REASON YOU'RE THERE, PEOPLE! I don't care if he shoots 0-for-20 and wears his shorts over his head. The only reason 1. anyone cares about Cleveland or the Cavs; 2. the Cavs are anywhere near a playoff; and 3. that arena has anyone in it - is LeBron James. How fairweather can you get? Your team's meal ticket to the postseason is having a bad HALF. Not game. HALF. How do you respond? Treat him like a pariah. A leper. Shower him with boos. You stay classy, Cleveland. Wait let me change the teleprompter. Go fu*k yourself, Cleveland. I thought you were supposed to be a "great" sports town. Wrong.
On a brighter note - John McEnroe, age 47 (I believe) won an ATP doubles tournament. How amazing is that? It speaks volumes about a couple different things. It really shows what an amazing doubles player he was and is. He hasn't lost what was probably the greatest touch the game has seen in the last 30 years - maybe ever. It also shows, unfortunately, how far professional doubles has fallen. There's no way any professional athlete (or two in this case) should lose in their respective sport to a man 10 years past being a tour regular and 20 years past his prime. I don't care what sport - what athlete. Michael Jordan played 5 years past his prime and just looked absolutely average. You think he did well in Washington? Go back and look again. He couldn't carry that team into the playoffs - and he had some pretty good players on that team (Kwame Brown notwithstanding). I know McEnroe played this tournament to shed some positive light on professional doubles and give it some exposure. For that purpose it worked, however, it also showed one of the faults (no pun intended) in doubles right now. The best players in the world aren't playing it.
See ya soon! (I mean it this time).
You know, for as vast as the internet is, I find myself getting bored very quickly and easily. I'm always online playing poker, but I need to keep myself occupied while I play - otherwise, I play too loosely out of boredom. Right now I'm playing 1-2 limit. Things are going okay. No big pots yet so I'm down about $6 after an hour or so. I'm going to try and grind out (slowly make money) for the majority of the day and make some progress. I just lost $10 with AK after flopping the A. I hope it won't be that kind of a day.
In baseball news - spring training is here! Literally... here. I'm about 10 minutes away from the Seattle and San Diego spring training HQ. I have to make sure I get down there and watch a workout during the week. I'm also about 25 minutes from a few other teams. I may be going to the D-backs/Yankees exhibition the final two games of spring training. That would be exciting. I'd definitely be wearing my Yankee "road greys".
Something really got under my skin last night and drove me to find my blog this morning. I don't remember exactly, but the reason I got this blog was so I could vent about certain issues and satisfy the craving I still obviously have for writing. Cleveland fans booed LeBron James in the second half of last night's game. Are you kidding me? I don't care if they paid $2,000 for tickets. Cleveland fans booing James is akin to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. HE'S THE REASON YOU'RE THERE, PEOPLE! I don't care if he shoots 0-for-20 and wears his shorts over his head. The only reason 1. anyone cares about Cleveland or the Cavs; 2. the Cavs are anywhere near a playoff; and 3. that arena has anyone in it - is LeBron James. How fairweather can you get? Your team's meal ticket to the postseason is having a bad HALF. Not game. HALF. How do you respond? Treat him like a pariah. A leper. Shower him with boos. You stay classy, Cleveland. Wait let me change the teleprompter. Go fu*k yourself, Cleveland. I thought you were supposed to be a "great" sports town. Wrong.
On a brighter note - John McEnroe, age 47 (I believe) won an ATP doubles tournament. How amazing is that? It speaks volumes about a couple different things. It really shows what an amazing doubles player he was and is. He hasn't lost what was probably the greatest touch the game has seen in the last 30 years - maybe ever. It also shows, unfortunately, how far professional doubles has fallen. There's no way any professional athlete (or two in this case) should lose in their respective sport to a man 10 years past being a tour regular and 20 years past his prime. I don't care what sport - what athlete. Michael Jordan played 5 years past his prime and just looked absolutely average. You think he did well in Washington? Go back and look again. He couldn't carry that team into the playoffs - and he had some pretty good players on that team (Kwame Brown notwithstanding). I know McEnroe played this tournament to shed some positive light on professional doubles and give it some exposure. For that purpose it worked, however, it also showed one of the faults (no pun intended) in doubles right now. The best players in the world aren't playing it.
See ya soon! (I mean it this time).
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